Are you living by sight or by faith?

 10 Jan 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One


Readings:

Genesis 25

Genesis 26

Matthew 9:1-17


When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2). 


Are you living by sight or by faith?


Esau walks in from the field after hunting and smells the stew Jacob is making. Famished, Esau commands Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary” (Genesis 25:30). The Hebrew verb “feed” indicates to gulp down greedily or to devour. Esau is cited in the New Testament as follows: “who for one morsel of food sold his birthright” (Hebrews 12:16). 

Unlike Esau, who could walk by his own power, a paralyzed man is brought to Jesus. His condition seems to be related to personal sin. Jesus says after observing the faith of his friends and the man, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2). Faith in Jesus led to the forgiveness of sin. 


Employment Point: Abstain from fleshly desires and live by faith to please Jesus.

———————

Reflections

I think we all know Esau’s story, one that traded his birthright for some food. A thought came to my mind. While we read this passage, do we also think and act like Esau? i.e. did we also trade off our time with Jesus with other stuffs, especially those that is of the world?


It is easy for us to comment and say that Esau is such a glutton and don’t know better. But we aren’t in his shoes and that may not be a fair assumption on our part. What if he was really hungry and status or birthright doesn’t mean anything to him at all? It may just feel right to him as he just wants to fill his stomach, a basic need for survival. Now, I am not here to discuss what Esau thinks but I believe the learning point for us here is that every one of us has the responsibility and accountability to our Lord Jesus Christ by our choices, actions and speeches. Therefore, it is important we slow down when we speak, not to make rash decisions and always seek the Lord first.


While reading the bible, the following verse stood out as well. “When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?””Matthew‬ ‭9‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬. Jesus came not to the righteous but the sinners. If He came and only ate with the Pharisees for example, He is no different from all of them. Jesus treats everyone as equal but the Pharisees treats these people as someone from a different caste / class.


This made me question my own behaviour as well. Who are the people that we do not usually associate with? They are mostly the migrant workers, sometimes other races or people from certain countries, diseased, the sick (physiologically or emotionally), people who are dirty or smells, etc. The list can continue to grow to an extent we will have to start questioning ourselves. What are we afraid of? Do we see ourselves as someone who is better than them? 


Father may You bring to our minds the things or actions or the thoughts that are not of You and guide us in Your ways and Your thoughts so we may see things from Your perspectives. In situations where we fall short, we pray that Lord You continue to exercise grace with us and guide us back on the right paths for Your name sake. In Jesus’s name we ask and pray. Amen 🙏🏻 

———————

The Opened Sight

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

January 10


I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light . . . so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. —Acts 26:17–18


“To open their eyes . . . so that they may receive.”This is the Bible’s clearest statement of where the disciple’s work begins and ends. As disciples of Jesus, we have a responsibility to open people’s eyes to the gospel, to help them turn toward the light. But this is only the work of conversion, not of salvation. Conversion is the effort of a roused human being. Salvation requires receiving something—not from another person but from God himself. This is the first mighty work of grace: “That they may receive forgiveness of sins.”


When someone fails in personal Christian experience, it is nearly always because they’ve never received anything. They’ve opened their eyes, but they haven’t accepted God’s gifts. They may make vows and promises, they may swear to walk in the light as God is in the light, they may even succeed for a time, but none of this is salvation. Salvation means that we have been brought, humble and open, to the place where we are able to receive. The only sign that a person is saved is that they have received the gift Jesus Christ bought for them on the cross.


“A place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Sanctification is the second mighty work of grace, God’s second great gift to us. In receiving the Holy Spirit, the reborn soul deliberately gives up its right to itself, turns itself over to Jesus, and identifies entirely with God’s will. To be born again in the Spirit is to know beyond a doubt that it is only through God’s generosity that we are saved, not through any decision of our own.


Genesis 25-26; Matthew 8:1-17


WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.… We have to pitch our tents where we shall always have quiet times with God, however noisy our times with the world may be.

—————————-

Reflections

To open their eyes so that they may see… reminds me of the moment where Ananias opened the eyes of Saul (who later became the Apostle Paul) by laying hands on him as instructed by Jesus in a vision, causing scales to fall from Saul's eyes and restoring his sight after Saul had been blinded by a heavenly light on the road to Damascus. Saul did not just recovered his sight, he also received the holy spirit and became a changed man.


Each and every one of us who have received salvation from our Lord Jesus would probably have felt this same moment. That scales which were covering our eyes had fell and we now see things not only what we commonly see but there is that additional perspective on things that Jesus has allowed us to experience and feel. 


Salvation brings along with it the goodness of God, in good times and bad that we can all praise Him for He is God alone. It brings about transformation of our hearts as we walk in this path of faith, that brings us even more closely to Him than anything else, teaching us “He is the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me” - John 14:6


Whereas for conversion, it is the stirring of our hearts to want to know Jesus, to be touched by His presence and His love and peace. There is no salvation there. 


Salvation only happens when we tell the Lord that yes, we are here. We are giving our lives to You, surrendering everything into Your hands, thank You for redeeming us and dying for our sins. We repent of every wrong that we had done and come to Your feet to confess our sins and seek your forgiveness. Lord, thank You for the blood that is shed for us, cleansing us and redeeming us. Thank You for Your grace and Your love that we are forgiven people. Help us to live a renewed life in Christ Jesus. Amen 🙏🏻 

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